Environment is everything that is around us. It can be living or non-living things. And it is visible but also invincible....think about the air you breath, you can neither touch it, nor see it, but it’s essential to human existence as it is also part of man's environment. Hence, environment includes physical, chemical and other natural forces. Merriam-Webster aptly described environment as the complex of physical, chemical, and biotic factors (such as climate, soil, and living things) that act upon an organism or an ecological community and ultimately determine its form and survival.
Going further, environmental issues are harmful effects of human activity on the biophysical environment. Over the years, as human population rises, man in his efforts to conquer, through innovations and in harnessing resources buried beneath the earth, have degraded his own environment, thereby putting self at great risk. Environmental destruction caused by humans is a global problem, and this is a problem that is ongoing every day. By year 2050, the global human population is expected to grow by 2 billion people, thereby reaching a level of 9.6 billion people. And Nigeria is estimated to be conservatively around 150 Million people.
I dare to say the major environmental issues may include: Rising human population, climate change, waste pollution, environmental degradation, and resource depletion, etc. And without doubt, there's an urgent need for protection of endangered species and protection of any ecologically valuable natural areas, genetically modified foods and global warming.
For this purpose, focus is on environmental pollution, with emphasis on plastic waste disposal....which I think is the biggest environmental issue this present generation will face, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, where waste disposal generally is still very poor. And waste recycling is almost non-existent.
Plastics are typically organic polymers of high molecular mass and often contain other substances. They are usually synthetic, most commonly derived from petrochemicals. And due to their low cost, ease of manufacture, versatility, and imperviousness to water, plastics have become so popular, and are used in a multitude of products of different scale. As of 2018, about 380 million tones of plastic are produced worldwide each year. Sadly, over 33 percent of all plastic - water bottles, bags and straws - are used just once and thrown away as waste; causing serious pollution to the environment.
Plastic pollution is the accumulation of plastic objects (e.g.: plastic bottles and much more) in the Earth's environment that adversely affects wildlife, wildlife habitat and humans. Plastic is a material made to last forever. It cannot biodegrade; it breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces. Plastics that act as pollutants are categorized into micro-, meso-, or macro debris, based on size. The chemical structure of most plastics renders them resistant to many natural processes of degradation and as a result they are slow to degrade.
Plastic waste mismanagement is an environmental time bomb, waiting to happen! Everything suffers: tourism, recreation, and business, the health of humans, animals, fish and birds. It can afflict land, waterways and oceans. Living organisms, particularly marine animals, can be harmed either by mechanical effects, such as entanglement in plastic objects or problems related to ingestion of plastic waste, or through exposure to chemicals within plastics that interfere with their physiology. Humans are also affected by plastic pollution, such as through disruption of various hormonal mechanisms. Toxic chemicals leach out of plastic and are found in the blood and tissue of nearly all of us. Exposure to them is linked to cancers, birth defects, impaired immunity, endocrine disruption and other ailments. Wildlife become entangled in plastic, they eat it or mistake it for food and feed it to their young, and it is found littered in even extremely remote areas of the Earth. In our oceans alone, plastic debris outweighs zooplankton by a ratio of 36-to-1. In fact, researchers suggest that by 2050 there could be more plastic than fish in the oceans by weight.
Also, chlorinated plastic can release harmful chemicals into the surrounding soil, which can then seep into groundwater or other surrounding water sources and also the ecosystem of the world. This can cause serious harm to the species that drink the water.
The financial damage to be inflicted will be inestimable.
The key to stopping this scary trend is through massive and concerted environmental protection effort.
Environmental protection is a practice of protecting the natural environment on individual, organizational or governmental levels, for the benefit of both the environment and humans. Thus, there's an urgent need to curb this grave dangers of plastic waste, especially in Nigeria. From the 1950s up to 2018, an estimated 6.3 billion tones of plastic has been produced worldwide, of which an estimated 9% has been recycled and another 12% has been incinerated.
In the UK for instance, where considerable study has been done on this matter, more than 5 million tones of plastic are consumed each year, of which only an estimated one-quarter is recycled, with the remainder going to landfills. This large amount of plastic waste inevitably enters the environment, with studies suggesting that the bodies of 90% of seabirds contain plastic debris. In some areas there have been significant efforts to reduce the prominence of plastic pollution, through reducing plastic consumption and promoting plastic recycling.
Increasingly aware of the scope of plastic pollution, governments in more than 60 countries have introduced levies and bans to combat single-use plastic waste. Such countries include but not only: Four major cities in the United States, more also: Chile, India, United Kingdom, Australia, China, Kenya, and many more.
In 2017 Kenya, for instance, implemented a country-wide ban of plastic bags that also falls on the distributors and producers of single-use bags. They even went as far as to implement significant repercussions for disobeying the law, which can include either a four-year jail sentence or a 40,000 fine for the sale or use of plastic bags. I think this the way to go. While it is too soon to measure the impact, this policy was passed with the goal of aiding and protecting Kenya’s agricultural, tourism, and fishing sectors.
Rwanda is also a pioneer in banning single-use plastic bags, is now one of the cleanest nations on earth.
In Nigeria, there's no existing law or policy, regarding the usage of plastic products. It is awful! Little wonder our environment, and water drainages are littered with plastic wastes of used sachet water bags(pure water), plastic cans and bottles, thereby causing drainage blockage and flooding.
A country that prides as the giant of Africa, should always be at the fore-front of action against plastic pollution, mostly especially against the backdrop of Nigeria's teeming population.
The way forward for Nigeria, and indeed, all countries is to enact laws and policies to out-rightly ban the use of these plastic bags and materials. And such policies can also include heavy levy/tax on its usage, and of-course dare penalty for defaulters. Manufacturers should be encouraged to find alternatives to plastic bags. And there are lots of alternatives available, which are environment friendly.
Furthermore, we should development the skill and the culture of recycling and re-using plastic wastes. Adequate investments should be made in the area of recycling and recycling equipment, training, awareness and general clean-up exercise to help mop up these dangerous wastes from our environment.
It behooves our governments at all levels, Federal, state and local government, and even the organized private sectors to enact laws and policies to discourage use of plastic bags, and adequately encourage recycling.
A stitch in time saves nine. Now is time to save our earth. We must not abdicate this historic task of protecting our environment.
By Ugochukwu Ejugbo
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